Speakers
Policies to Boost Economic Growth and Security —
What’s Needed?
2006 Washington Economic Policy Conference
Angelo Amador
Director of Immigration
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Angelo I. Amador is Director of Immigration Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is the world’s largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region. As Director of Immigration Policy, Mr. Amador is responsible for working with members of the business community to develop the Chamber’s position on comprehensive immigration reform, legalization issues, border security concerns, visa-processing issues, and guestworker programs. He also advocates on behalf of the Chamber and its members before the U.S. Congress and various administrative agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and the Department of Labor. Mr. Amador also chairs the Americans for Better Borders (ABB) coalition, which unites regional business organizations, companies and trade associations, in manufacturing, hospitality, tourism, transportation, recreation, and other industry sectors, to work ensuring the efficient flow of goods and people across our borders while addressing national security concerns.
Mr. Amador is a graduate of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and obtained a Master of Arts in International Transactions from George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. He graduated cum laude from his Juris Doctor at George Mason University School of Law and with distinction from his Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from the Georgetown University Law Center where he received the Thomas Bradbury Chetwood Award for graduating with the highest academic ranking in his program.
Prior to coming to the U.S. Chamber, Mr. Amador was in private practice. He also served as Law Clerk to the Honorable David T. Stitt, Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia. Prior to his clerkship with Judge Stitt, he had worked in Washington, D.C. for the office of the Governor of Puerto Rico as Assistant Director/Legislative Counsel in the Intergovernmental Affairs Division, and as staff attorney in the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Mr. Amador is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law. He also serves on the faculty of the Virginia Beach Law Enforcement Training Academy. He is fluent in German, Spanish, English and Portuguese and is a member of both the Virginia State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.
Keith T. Anderson
Managing Director
BlackRock Financial Management
Mr. Anderson is a member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, which meets quarterly in Washington, DC with the Secretary and Staff of the US Treasury to advise on the financing and management of the Federal debt.
Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Mr. Anderson was a Vice President in Fixed Income Research at The First Boston Corporation. From 1983 to 1987, Mr. Anderson was Portfolio Manager at Criterion Investment Management Company.
Mr. Anderson currently serves as Chairman of Family Dynamics, a non-profit organization focusing on the prevention of child abuse. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and on the board of the Gladney Fund, the country's largest non-profit adoption agency.
Mr. Anderson earned a BS degree in economics and finance from Nichols College in 1981, and an MBA degree in business administration from Rice University in 1983.
Katherine Baicker
Member
Council of Economic Advisers
Dr. Katherine Baicker was nominated by President Bush on September 22, 2005 and confirmed by the Senate on November 4, 2005 to serve as a Member of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Katherine Baicker received her BA in economics from Yale in 1993, and her PhD in economics from Harvard in 1998. She is an associate professor in the department of public policy at the School of Public Affairs at UCLA, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in the public economics program. From 2001-2002 Dr. Baicker served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers. Her research areas include health economics, welfare, and public finance, with a particular focus on the financing of health insurance, spending on public programs, and fiscal federalism.
Dr. Baicker’s research has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Public Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and Health Affairs. She has served on the faculty of the Economics Department at Dartmouth College, the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences and the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, and in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Dr. Baicker’s research has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and on National Public Radio, and has been funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Bradley D. Belt
Executive Director
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Bradley D. Belt is Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a government corporation that protects the pension benefits of 44.1 million Americans.
As the chief executive officer of the Corporation, Mr. Belt is responsible for the PBGC’s operations including administration of two insurance programs covering 30,330 defined benefit plans sponsored by private sector employers, providing annual benefit payments of about $3.7 billion to nearly 1.2 million workers and retirees, and management of assets totaling more than $56 billion. In addition to his management responsibilities, he assists in shaping and communicating Administration policy on pension and retirement security issues.
Mr. Belt brings to the PBGC more than 20 years of executive management, financial markets, and policy development experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. In the private sector, he has been a financial industry executive, management consultant, and government relations strategist. His government service includes senior staff positions with the Securities Exchange Commission and United States Senate, including as counsel to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He also has been an executive officer with a leading public policy institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Mr. Belt has received numerous awards and honors, and has served on the boards of private sector companies and non-profit organizations. His service includes an appointment by President George W. Bush to the Social Security Advisory Board, as executive director of the bipartisan National Commission on Retirement Policy, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral. Belt holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska, a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center, and he completed the Senior Executives in Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
The PBGC was established by Congress under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The Corporation receives no funds from general tax revenues. Its operations are financed largely by insurance premiums paid by companies that sponsor pension plans and by investment returns.
C. Fred Bergsten
Director
Institute for International Economics
C. Fred Bergsten has been director of the Institute for International Economics since its creation in 1981. The Institute is the only major research institution in the United States devoted to international economic issues. It has been called “the most influential think tank on the planet,” has a staff of about 50, moved into its award-winning new building in 2001, averages two or three publications per month, and holds at least one conference or policy meeting every week. Dr. Bergsten has been the most widely quoted think-tank economist in the world over the eight-year period 1997–2005. He testifies frequently before Congress and appears often on television. He was ranked 37 in the top 50 “Who Really Move the Markets?” (Fidelity Investment’s Worth), with Alan Greenspan ranked first, and as “one of the ten people who can change your life” in USA Today, along with the inventor of the world wide web and the discoverer of ozone layer depletion.
Dr. Bergsten was assistant secretary for international affairs of the US Treasury during 1977–81. He also functioned as undersecretary for monetary affairs during 1980–81, representing the United States on the G-5 Deputies and in preparing G-7 summits. During 1969–71, starting at age 27, Dr. Bergsten coordinated US foreign economic policy in the White House as assistant for international economic affairs to Dr. Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council. He has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (1972–76), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1981), and the Council on Foreign Relations (1967–68). Dr. Bergsten was chairman of the Eminent Persons Group of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum from 1993 to 1995, authoring its three reports that recommended “free and open trade in the region by 2010 and 2020” as adopted at the APEC summits in 1993 and 1994. He was also chairman of the Competitiveness Policy Council created by the Congress from 1991 through 1995; its 12 members included corporate CEOs, labor union presidents and Cabinet officers and were appointed by the president and the congressional leadership. Dr. Bergsten was a member of the two leading commissions on reform of the international monetary system: the Independent Task Force on The Future International Financial Architecture, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations (1999), and the International Financial Institutions Advisory Commission created by Congress (2000, on which he led the dissenting minority).
Dr. Bergsten has authored, coauthored, or edited 36 books on international economic issues, including The United States and the World Economy: Foreign Economic Policy for the Next Decade (2005), Dollar Adjustment: How Far? Against What? (2004), Dollar Overvaluation and the World Economy (2003), No More Bashing: Building a New Japan-United States Economic Relationship (2001), and The Dilemmas of the Dollar (2d ed, 1996). His latest of 14 articles in Foreign Affairs over 36 years is “Foreign Economic Policy for the Next President” (March to April 2004). Recent op-eds include “A Clash of the Titans Could Hurt Us All” (Financial Times, August 2005), “An Action Plan to stop the Market Manipulators Now” (Financial Times, March 2005), “The Risks Ahead for The World Economy” (The Economist, September 2004), and “Muzzling Our Economic Negotiators” (Washington Post, September 2003).
Dr. Bergsten has received the Meritorious Honor Award of the Department of State (1965), the Exceptional Service Award of the Treasury Department (1981), and the Legion d'Honneur from the Government of France (1985). He has been named an honorary fellow of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (1997).
Dr. Bergsten was born in 1941. He received MA, MALD, and PhD degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a BA magna cum laude and honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Central Methodist College. He has been married to the former Virginia Wood since 1962 and has one son, Mark, now a doctor, born in 1968. His favorite hobbies include playing basketball, photography, and snorkeling.
Richard B. Berner
Chief U.S. Economist
Morgan Stanley
Richard Berner is a Principal in Morgan Stanley's Equity Research Department, and has responsibility for U.S. economic and financial research activities.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Berner received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Harvard College, and a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He conducted dissertation research under SSRC-Ford Foundation grants at both the University of Louvain, Belgium, and at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Berner was Executive Vice President and Chief Economist at Mellon Bank Corporation, and a member of Mellon Bank's Senior Management Committee. Previously, he served as a Principal and Senior Economist for Morgan Stanley and a Director and Senior Economist for Salomon Brothers. He has also served as Economist for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, Director of the Washington, DC office of Wharton Econometrics and Economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He has been an adjunct professor of economics at Carnegie-Mellon University and at George Washington University.
Mr. Berner is also a member of the Board of the National Association for Business Economics and a member of the Board of Advisors of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. He has been a member of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, a member of the Board of Directors and past President of the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School, a member of the Board of Trustees of Sewickley Academy, and a member of the Finance Advisory Committee of the Quaker Valley School District. He has also served as a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Joint Task Force on Exports.
Carolyn Brandon
Vice President of Policy
CTIA - The Wireless Association
Ms. Brandon joined CTIA as Vice President, Policy in February 2003. Working with CTIA’s more than 200 members, Carolyn is responsible for the development of strategic, national public policies that further the goals of CTIA and its members. In 2005, she led the industry to a successful, national launch of Wireless AMBER Alerts, in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
Before joining CTIA, Ms. Brandon was a partner in the Washington, D.C. telecommunications law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP where for 12 years she represented wireless telecommunications providers in proceedings and transactions before the Federal Communications Commission, state public utility commissions, U.S. bankruptcy courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to joining the firm, Miss Brandon clerked for the Federal Communications Commission, Office of Plans and Policy, Common Carrier Bureau, and the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.
Ms. Brandon was selected to represent the commercial wireless industry on the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee, an official Federal Advisory Committee. Carolyn serves on both the Executive Committee of the Federal Communications Bar Association and the Steering Committee of the District of Columbia Bar Association’s Computer and Telecommunications Committee. She has served as an articles mentor for the Federal Communications Law Journal and as a member of the FCBA’s Annual Charity Auction Committee. In 2002, she received the FCBA Distinguished Service Award. Her pro bono activities include representing prospective adoptive parents before the DC Superior Court, Family Division.
Ms. Brandon graduated cum laude from the University of Scranton, Scranton Pennsylvania, and received a JD from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America where she graduated from the Institute for Communications Law Studies and served as Associate Editor, Catholic University Law Review. She has authored several articles regarding wireless telecommunications law and policy and has been a recurring contributor to the Practicing Law Institute. She resides in Vienna, Virginia with her husband and two children.
John Breaux
Co-chair, President’s Commission on Tax Reform
former Senator from Louisiana
Senator John Breaux joined Patton Boggs as Senior Counsel upon his retirement from the United States Senate in 2005. He provides strategic advice to the firm’s attorneys and clients on a wide range of public policy matters, with special concentration in the areas of health care and energy law.
Senator Breaux led a long and distinguished career in Congress. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1972 at the age of 28—at the time of his election he was the youngest member of the US Congress. He represented the 7th District of Louisiana for 14 years before being elected to fill Senator Russell Long's seat in 1986.
Senator Breaux was a widely recognized bipartisan leader in the Senate, and in 1993 was elected by his Democratic colleagues to the post of Deputy Minority Whip, a position he held until his retirement. He also held a number of key Senate committee positions. A senior member of the Finance Committee, Senator Breaux served as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy. He also held positions on two other Finance subcommittees, the Subcommittee on Health Care and the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight. From his position on the Finance Committee, he played instrumental roles in forging the compromises that led to passage of the welfare reform and health insurance reform bills in 1996. He was also a leader in the efforts to reduce the capital gains tax and to provide tax relief for college education expenses.
While in the Senate, Senator Breaux was a recognized leader on energy issues. He served as Co-Chair of the Oil and Gas Caucus and was a conferee on energy legislation that eventually was written into the 2005 Energy Bill. Senator Breaux was active in advancing legislation to promote domestic oil and gas production, and was a Co-Sponsor of the Marginal Well Preservation Act, a tax-incentive program to encourage oil production from marginal oil wells. He was also a principal author of the Outer Continental Shelf Land Act.
Senator Breaux was a founder of the Centrist Coalition of Senate Democrats and Republicans and served as Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council. In 2005 President George W. Bush appointed Senator Beaux as the Co-Chair of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.
Kathleen M. Camilli
President
Camilli Economics
Kathleen Camilli is one of the nation’s top economic forecasters and independent economists. Her firm, Camilli Economics, provides clients, including investment organizations, corporations, high net worth individuals and family offi ces, with “real world” economic guidance for smart business and fi nancial decisions. Building on her more than two decades of accomplished private and public sector experience, Ms. Camilli provides “on target” analysis on the workings of the U.S. economy and financial markets. Armed with a solid foundation of global macro/micro economic perspectives, she offers unique insight into complex issues and translates those into understandable, actionable ideas.
Known for her consistently accurate forecasting, Kathleen Camilli is one of the leading economists in the country today and has received top ranking from objective performance raters, including The Wall Street Journal, who named her one of the top fi ve economic forecasters two years in a row; Business Week, who named her the number one performing forecaster, and Institutional Investor.
Before founding Camilli Economics in 2004, Ms. Camilli was the U.S. Economist at Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) in New York where she provided insight on the U.S. economy to the fi rm’s investment process overseeing $312 billion in fi xed income and equity assets globally. Before joining CSAM, she was Tucker Anthony’s Director of Economic Research for six years. During her career, she has worked as a money market economist at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and as a Fed-watcher at Chase Manhattan Bank. She began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where she trained as a practicing economist and was responsible for forecasting reserves for the Open Market Desk.
Kathleen Camilli received B.A. degrees in both Economics and French from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She studied at Universite de Laval, Quebec, Canada and Universite de Paris III, VII, France. She earned an M.B.A. in Finance and an M.A. in French Studies from New York University.
A frequent commentator, author and speaker, Kathleen Camilli is well known as a strong communicator and translator of complex issues into understandable, actionable ideas. She appears regularly on CNN, CNBC, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightly Business Report and Bloomberg Business News. She has been quoted in the financial press, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.
Ms. Camilli is on the Board of Directors of MassBank Corp., the Money Marketeers of New York University and the National Association of Business Economists (NABE). She is a contributor to Blue Chip Financial Forecasts. Ms. Camilli is a member of the Financial Women’s Association, the New York Women’s Bond Club, the Forecasters Club and the New York Association of Business Economists. Her civic activities include serving on the Board of the Epiphany School Foundation.
Deborah Chollet
Senior Fellow
Mathematica Policy Research
Deborah Chollet is a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C., where she conducts research on private health insurance coverage, markets, and regulation.
Richard N. Cooper
Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics
Harvard University
Richard N. Cooper is Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics at Harvard University. He is Vice-Chairman of the Global Development Network, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Executive Panel of the US Chief of Naval Operations, the Aspen Strategy Group, and the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity. He has served on several occasions in the US Government, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council (1995-97), Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1977-81), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Monetary Affairs (1965-66), and senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers (1961-63). He was also chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (1990-92). As a Marshall Scholar, he studied at the London School of Economics, and earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University. His most recent books include Boom, Crisis, and Adjustment (with others), Macroeconomic Management in Korea, 1970-1990 (with others), Environment and Resource Policies for the World Economy, and What the Future Holds (with others)
Robert W. Crandall
Senior Fellow
Brookings Institution
Robert W. Crandall is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution where he studies: Antitrust policy; Auto industry; Environmental policy; Industrial organization; Regulation and deregulation; Steel industry; and Telecommunications. His current projects include Telecommunications regulatory policy, particularly regarding wireless and broadband competition, and the effects of antitrust policy on the U.S. telecommunications sector.
His previous positions include: Acting, Deputy, and Assistant Director, Council on Wage and Price Stability; Faculty Member, George Washington University, Northwestern University, University of Maryland, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Some of his recent publications include: Competition and Chaos: U.S. Telecommunictions since the 1996 Telecommunications Act (Brookings, 2005); "The Remedy for the 'Bottleneck Monopoly' in Telecom: Isolate It, Share It, or Ignore It?" University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 72, No. 1 (Winter 2005); "Does Antitrust Policy Improve Consumer Welfare? Assessing the Evidence," with Clifford Winston, Journal of Economic Perspectives (Fall 2003); Broadband: Should We Regulate High-Speed Internet Access? with James Alleman (AEI Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, 2002)
He has an M.S. (1968) and Ph.D. (1968) from Northwestern University, and an A.B., University of Cincinnati, 1962.
J. Bradford DeLong
Professor of Economics
University of California-Berkeley
Brad DeLong is a professor of economics at U.C. Berkeley, chair of the Political Economy of Industrial Societies major, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. From 1993-1995 he was a deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury.
James Diffley
Group Managing Director, U.S. Regional Services
Global Insight
James Diffley is Managing Director of Global Insight’s U.S. Regional Services Group, with overall responsibility for Regional Services, including the Regional Core Macroeconomic Service and the Global Insight Real Estate & Construction Service. Since 1998, he has supervised the quarterly economic forecast of the 50 states and over 300 metropolitan areas of the United States. He regularly makes presentations of these regional economic forecasts and analysis to clients, conferences, governmental bodies, and the press.
He is also responsible for customized consulting projects. These have included long-term projections of cigarette consumption, forecasts of capital gains realizations, analysis of the economic impact of the securities industry on New York State, analysis of the impact of changing oil prices on local economies, and the economic impact of various facilities locations.
Diffley came to Global Insight through WEFA, Inc. Prior to joining WEFA, Diffley was supervising tax analyst with the New Jersey Division of Taxation's Office of Tax Analysis from 1988 to 1996, where he was responsible for developing the state economic forecast for the state executive budget and for business tax revenue forecasting. Diffley did his Doctorate of Philosophy training in economics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, completing all requirements but the dissertation. From 1982 to 1987, he was on the economics faculty at Adelphi University in New York.
Douglas W. Elmendorf
Chief, Macroeconomic Analysis Section, Division of Research & Statistics
Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
Douglas W. Elmendorf is Assistant Director, Division of Research and Statistics Chief, Macroeconomic Analysis Section at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, where he studies both macroeconomics and public economics.
He has been at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System since 200. Previous positions include: Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of the Treasury, 1999-2001; Senior Economist, Council of Economic Advisers, 1998-1999; Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1995-1998; Associate Analyst/Principal Analyst, Congressional Budget Office, 1993-1995; Assistant Professor, Harvard University, 1989-1994.
His publications include: 'Can Financial Innovation Help to Explain the Reduced Volatility of Economic Activity?'' (with Karen E. Dynan and Daniel E. Sichel), Journal of Monetary Economics (forthcoming); Can Financial Innovation Help to Explain the Reduced Volatility of Economic Activity? (with Karen E. Dynan and Daniel E. Sichel), Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2005-54. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2005; ''Short-Run Effects of Fiscal Policy with Forward-Looking Financial Markets '' (with David L. Reifschneider), National Tax Journal, vol. 55 (September 2002), pp. 357-386; ''Fiscal Policy and Social Security Policy during the 1990s'' (with Jeffrey B. Liebman and David W. Wilcox), in Jeffrey Frankel and Peter Orszag, ed., American Economic Policy in the 1990s. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.
He has an A.B., Economics, Princeton University, 1983, and an M.A. in Economics, 1985, and a Ph.D., 1989, both from Harvard University.
Martin Feldstein
Professor, Harvard University
President, National Bureau of Economic Research
Martin Feldstein is the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University and President and CEO of the National Bureau of Economic Research. From 1982 through 1984, Martin Feldstein was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and President Reagan's chief economic adviser. He served as President of the American Economic Association in 2004.
The National Bureau is a private, nonprofit research organization that has specialized for more than 80 years in producing nonpartisan studies of the American economy.
Dr. Feldstein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Econometric Society and a Fellow of the National Association of Business Economists. He is also a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Group of 30, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received honorary doctorates from several universities and is an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. In 1977, he received the John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic Association, a prize awarded every two years to the economist under the age of 40 who is judged to have made the greatest contribution to economic science. He is the author of more than 300 research articles in economics.
Dr. Feldstein is a director of three corporations (American International Group; HCA; and Eli Lilly) and an economic adviser to several businesses in the United States and abroad. He is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal.
Martin Feldstein is a graduate of Harvard College and Oxford University. He was born in New York City in 1939. His wife, Kathleen, is also an economist. The Feldsteins have two grown daughters.
John Greenlees
Associate Commissioner for Price Measurement
Bureau of Labor Statistics
John S. Greenlees serves as Associate Commissioner for Prices and Living Conditions at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In that position he is responsible for three Principal Federal Economic Indicators that measure U.S. price change: the Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index, and International Price Indexes. In addition, Dr. Greenlees is responsible for the Consumer Expenditure Survey program, which measures the spending habits of U.S. households, and for a program of Price and Index Number Research.
Prior to taking on his current position in January 2004, Dr. Greenlees served as a BLS Assistant Commissioner, overseeing the CPI program. From 1985 to 1995 he served under the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department, ultimately as Director of the Office of Economic Analysis. There he worked on numerous policy issues and participated in several interagency working groups.
Dr. Greenlees received a B.A. from UC Berkeley, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from UCLA, all in Economics. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth and he has been active in international statistical groups. He has published on a variety of economic and statistical topics.
Kevin A. Hassett
Director, Economic Policy Studies
American Enterprise Institute
Kevin A. Hassett is director of Economic Policy Studies and Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Before joining AEI, Dr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. He was the chief economic advisor to John McCain during the 2000 primaries. He has also served as a policy consultant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury during both the former Bush and Clinton administrations. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hassett is a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation's Dynamic Scoring Advisory Panel. He is the author, coauthor or editor of six books on economics and economic policy. He has published scholarly articles in the American Economic Review,the Economic Journal,the Quarterly Journal of Economics,the Review of Economics and Statistics,the Journal of Public Economics, and many other professional journals. His popular writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic Monthly, USA Today, the Washington Post, and numerous other outlets. His economic commentaries are regularly aired on radio and television including recent appearances on the Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Hardball, Moneyline, and Power Lunch.
Edgard Habib
Chief Economist
Chevron Texaco Corporation
Edgard H. Habib is the Chief Economist for Chevron Corporation.
A native of Lebanon, Mr. Habib graduated from the University of San Francisco in California with a bachelor’s degree in political science and international finance in 1975. He then went on to earn an MPA in development economics and public finance and a doctorate in economics from The American University, based in Washington, D.C.
In 1988, Mr. Habib joined Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates (WEFA) in Washington, D.C., as Vice President - Middle East and Africa, responsible for directing research on country risk assessments for many major international clients. In this capacity, he performed numerous consulting projects and delivered client briefings worldwide.
He was later named Senior Vice President and Managing Director for WEFA’s Washington operations, overseeing activities in Eurasia, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Mr. Habib established and maintained extensive client relations globally and developed corporate strategy for initiation and development of business opportunities for those clients.
In early 1997, Mr. Habib became a Senior Advisor for Mitsubishi Corporation, based in Tokyo, on global petroleum markets and country risk assessment. He advised management on energy security and country risk issues to aid in developing long-term business growth opportunities for the company.
In August 1997, he joined the International Energy Agency (IEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), based in Paris, as manager of their Middle East and Africa affairs. He advised industry and government representatives on world economy, country risk, and oil security. He was spokesperson for OECD/IEA at many worldwide conferences and was instrumental in developing institutional links for them in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.
Mr. Habib joined Chevron as Chief Economist in October 2000, a position he maintained upon the formation of ChevronTexaco Corporation on Oct. 9, 2001. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the National Association of Business Economists, the United States Association for Energy Economics, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Conference of Business Economists, and the World Affairs Council.
Mr. Habib was born in May 1951.
Maurine Haver
President
Haver Analytics
Maurine is President and founder of Haver Analytics Inc., an economic consulting and information services company. Prior to starting Haver Analytics in 1978, she was an economist in the economic forecasting group of General Electric in New York, a member of the International Staff of Companie Bull General Electric in Paris and a consultant in the Foreign Currency Exposure Management Group of the Chase Manhattan Bank in London.
Maurine served as President of the National Association of Business Economists (1994-95) and now chairs the NABE campaign for Quality Economic Data that she initiated during her year as president. In her role as Chair of the NABE Statistics Committee, she testifies before Congress on statistical issues, conducts quarterly meetings which bring together producers and users of federal statistics and organizes seminars to help users better understand the statistics available from government and private sources.
Maurine chairs the Business Research Advisory Council of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Economic Analysis. She has served as secretary of the Forecasters Club of New York since 1992. She is a past president of the New York Association for Business Economics (1989-90), the Downtown Economists Club (1993-94) and the Money Marketeers of New York University (1998-99). She chaired the board of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) during 2001-2003. She currently serves on the board of Mutual of America and is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Statistical Association and the National Economists Club.
Maurine holds a B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from Michigan State University, an M.B.A. from the Stern School of New York University and completed her oral exam for a PhD in International Economics at NYU.
Henry J. Herrmann
Chief Executive Officer
Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.
H ank Herrmann is Chief Executive Officer of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., a national asset management and distribution company headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. Mr. Herrmann also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee of Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company and Ivy Investment Management Company. In his role as Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee, Mr. Herrmann works with the CIO and Investment Management Division regarding the investment activities of the company.
Joining the firm as a senior investment analyst covering the technology industries, Mr. Herrmann began his career with Waddell & Reed in 1971. From 1976 to 1987, he was portfolio manager of the Waddell & Reed Advisors Vanguard Fund. Mr. Herrmann also managed the Waddell & Reed Advisors New Concepts Fund from its inception in June 1983 to February 1989. He was named President and Chief Investment Officer of Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company in 1987, and Ivy Investment Management Company at its formation in 2003. For the holding company, Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., he was named CEO in 2005, and named president in 1998 prior to the company’s initial public offering.
Mr. Herrmann received his BS in finance from New York University in 1966. Prior to joining Waddell & Reed, he was an investment analyst specializing in high technology stocks for a major New York City bank and two Wall Street brokerage firms.
Mr. Herrmann is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is a member of the CFA Institute. He is a member and past president of the Kansas City Society of Financial Analysts.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Director, Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Council on Foreign Relations
Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and the
Paul A. Volcker Chair in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. Douglas Holtz-Eakin most recently served as the sixth Director of the Congressional Budget Office, where he was appointed for a four-year term beginning February 4, 2003. Dr. Holtz-Eakin previously served for 18 months as Chief Economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he also served as Senior Staff Economist in 1989 and 1990. Prior to that, Dr. Holtz-Eakin served as CBO's representative on the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.
Dr. Holtz-Eakin previously served as a Trustee Professor of Economics at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. At the Maxwell School, he served as Chairman of the Department of Economics and Associate Director of the Center for Policy Research. He also has served as editor of the National Tax Journal, associate editor of the Journal of Human Resources, and as a member of the editorial board for Public Budgeting & Finance, Economics and Politics, Journal of Sports Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, and Public Works Management and Policy.
Dr. Holtz-Eakin has a long-standing and broad interest in the economics of public policy. He has studied the role of federal taxes in home ownership, the contribution of inventories to the business cycle, and a wide variety of topics in state and local government finance. Recently, his research has centered on the economics of fundamental tax reform, productivity effects of public infrastructure; income mobility in the United States; and the role of families, capital markets, health insurance and tax policy in the start-up and survival of entrepreneurial ventures.
Stuart Hoffman
Chief Economist
PNC Financial Services Group
Stuart G. Hoffman is senior vice president and chief economist for The PNC Financial Services Group and serves as the principal spokesperson on all economic issues for PNC. Recently, Hoffman was named by BusinessWeek as the most accurate economic and interest rate forecaster of 2004. In addition, he has been recognized as the second most accurate forecaster by the National Association for Business Economics and in The Wall Street Journal’s economic survey covering the 1988 to 2002 period.
Hoffman joined PNC in 1980 after a six-year tenure with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He became vice president and senior economist for PNC in 1987 and was elected senior vice president and chief economist in 1991.
Hoffman is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, BusinessWeek and USA Today. He is a regular guest on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg TV, The Wall Street Journal Radio Report and CNN News Radio. He is regularly interviewed by the Associated Press and Reuter’s news wire services. He is often quoted in regional media such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In addition, Hoffman has regularly participated in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Jackson Hole Symposium, where he discusses key economic issues with Chairman Alan Greenspan and other global monetary policymakers.
Hoffman is thePresident and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Partnership for Economic Education and the Economic Club of Pittsburgh--the local chapter of NABE.He is the past chairman of the American Bankers Association Economic Advisory Committee that met semi-annually with Chairman Greenspan and other Federal Reserve Board Governors.
Hoffman is a 1971 graduate of Pennsylvania State University. He received a master's degree in 1973 and a doctorate degree in economics in 1975, both from the University of Cincinnati, where he was a Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fellow. In 2004, the University of Cincinnati honored him as a Distinguished Alumni.
Allan Hubbard
Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
Director, National Economic Council
Allan Hubbard currently serves as an Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director, National Economic Council.
In 1969, Mr. Hubbard received his B.A. degree, cum laude, from Vanderbilt University. In 1975, Mr. Hubbard received his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, and Masters in Business Administration with Distinction from Harvard Law School and Harvard School of Business Administration.
Mr. Hubbard has owned and operated a number of businesses. In addition, he served in the Bush-Quayle Administration as Executive Director of the Council on Competiveness.
Mr. Hubbard and his wife, Kathy, have three children, ages 19, 17, and 17.
Greg Ip,
Reporter,
Wall Street Journal
Thomas R. Keene
Editor-at-Large
Bloomberg News
Thomas R. Keene is an editor-at-large for Bloomberg News. He provides economic and investment perspective to Bloomberg's various news divisions and writes the chart of the day article, available only on the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL service. He features the chart on Bloomberg Television. Tom is host of "Bloomberg on the Economy" heard weekdays on the Bloomberg Radio network. He is editor of Flying on One Engine, The Bloomberg Book of Master Market Economists, Fourteen Views on the World Economy, published in 2005. He is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and is enrolled in courses at the London School of Economics. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a member of the CFA Institute and the National Association for Business Economics.
Randall S. Kroszner
Professor of Economics
University of Chicago
Randall S. Kroszner is Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
His research interests include: International and domestic banking and financial institutions and their regulation; conflicts of interest in financial services firms; corporate governance, international financial crises; sovereign debt defaults; political economy; monetary economics.
He was a member of Council of Economic Advisers, Executive Office of the President. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, November 2001, and served until June 2003. He is also Director, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
He has a Sc.B. magna cum laude (applied mathematics-economics), Brown University, 1984; M.A., Harvard University, 1987; Ph.D. (economics), Harvard University, 1990.
Nancy R. Lazar
Executive Vice President
ISI Group Inc
NANCY LAZAR is Executive Vice President and Economist for ISI. She has been an Institutional Investor's ranked Wall Street economist for the past 5 years. Prior to forming ISI, Nancy was a Senior Vice President at C.J. Lawrence. Nancy graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1979.
Steve Liesman
Senior Economic Reporter
CNBC
As CNBC’s Senior Economics Reporter, Steve Liesman reports on all aspects of the economy including the Federal Reserve Bank and major economic indicators. He appears on “Squawk Box” (M-F, 7-10 a.m. ET), as well as other CNBC programs throughout the Business Day.
Liesman joined CNBC from The Wall Street Journal where he served as a senior economics reporter covering monetary policy, international economics, academic research and productivity. At the Journal, Liesman previously worked as an energy reporter and, from 1996-98, as the Journal’s Moscow bureau chief. He was a member of the reporting team recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for stories chronicling the crash of the Russian financial markets.
Prior to joining the Journal in 1994, Liesman was the business editor for The Moscow Times, where, as the founding business editor for the country’s first English language daily newspaper, he helped create the publication’s stock index, which was the country’s first. Liesman has also worked as a business reporter for both the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Fl., and The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Sarasota, Fl.
Liesman holds a Masters of Science from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in English from the State University of New York, Buffalo.
Mindy S. Lubber
President
Ceres
Mindy S. Lubber is the President of Ceres, the leading U.S. coalition of investors and environmental leaders working to improve corporate environmental, social and governance practices. She also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance that coordinates U.S. investor responses to the financial risks and opportunities posed by climate change.
INCR activities include organizing the Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the UN Headquarters, hosting fiduciary training programs for pension fund trustees, producing research reports to improve investor understanding of climate risk, and coordinating engagement of its members with companies, money management firms, and policy makers.
Ms. Lubber has held leadership positions in government as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; in the financial services sector as Founder, President and CEO of Green Century Capital Management, an investment firm managing environmentally screened mutual funds; in the private sector as the President of an environmental law and policy consulting group; and in the not-for-profit sector for more than a decade leading environmental and public interest law organizations, including the National Environmental Law Center, which she founded. She was the Senior Advisor and Communications Director to former Governor Michael Dukakis, and for a decade, held leadership positions with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), including Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.
Ms. Lubber holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration.
Catherine L. Mann
Senior Fellow
Institute for International Economics
Catherine L. Mann has been a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics since 1997. Previously, she served as assistant director of the International Finance Division at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, senior international economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers at the White House, and adviser to the chief economist at the World Bank.
Her current work focuses on the economic and policy issues of global information, communications, and technology, particularly with reference to the US economy, labor market, and international trade. Her recent Institute policy brief "Globalization of IT Services and White-Collar Jobs: The Next Wave of Productivity Growth" and forthcoming book High-tech and Globalization in America address these issues.
She is author or coauthor of two books that focus on the policy foundations for effective use of technology for domestic development and external competitiveness. APEC and the New Economy (2002) was presented to and endorsed by APEC Leaders at their meeting in Shanghai, China. Global Electronic Commerce: A Policy Primer (2000) uses general analysis and specific examples from field research in more than 10 countries to address how the Internet and electronic commerce affect policymaking, with particular focus on infrastructure and policy issues of taxation, privacy, security, intellectual property, and trade negotiations. In addition she directs a project funded by the Ford Foundation to support collaborative research comparing Asian and Latin American countries on how technology affects entrepreneurship, government, education and skills, and financial intermediation. She has delivered keynote speeches and engaged in projects on technology and policy in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, as well as in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, and New Zealand.
She also studies broader issues of US trade, the sustainability of the current account, and the exchange value of the dollar. Published in 1999, Is the US Trade Deficit Sustainable? answers perennial questions about the impact of global integration on the US economy and the dollar. A Journal of Economic Perspectives (2002) article reviews concepts of sustainability, including the role of international financial markets and international trade in services, topics also addressed in "How Long the Strong Dollar?" in Dollar Overvaluation and the World Economy, edited by John Williamson and C. Fred Bergsten, and in "The US Current Account, New Economy Services, and Implications for Sustainability" in the Review of International Economics.
In addition to her work at the Institute, Mann taught for 10 years as adjunct professor of management at the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University and two years at the Johns Hopkins Nitze School for Advanced International Studies, among other university courses. She received her PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her undergraduate degree is from Harvard University.
Rosemary Marcuss
Deputy Director
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Rosemary Marcuss is the Deputy Director of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and is the Past President of NABE. She was a member of the Board of Directors of NABE from 2000 to 2003.
From 1983 to 1998, she was the Assistant Director for Tax Analysis, U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO), where she was responsible for Congressional tax receipts forecasts and tax policy analysis. She has also been: Senior Manager and Economist, Data Resources, Inc.; Assistant to the President, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; junior staff member, Council of Economic Advisers; Director, National Tax Association; Member: District of Columbia Tax Revision Commission.
She has a Ph.D. University of Maryland, where she had a National Science Foundation Fellowship.
Donald B. Marron
Acting Director
Congressional Budget Office
Donald B. Marron became CBO's Deputy Director in October 2005 and began serving as Acting Director as of December 30. Previously, Dr. Marron served as Chief Economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers. In that capacity, he analyzed a broad range of fiscal, regulatory, and macroeconomic policies and directed a team that monitored the state of the economy and developed economic forecasts.
Prior to holding that post, Dr. Marron was the Executive Director and Chief Economist of the Congress's Joint Economic Committee, where he led a team that advised Members of Congress and Congressional staff about the performance of the economy, fiscal policy challenges, and the impacts of legislative proposals.
Before his government service, Dr. Marron was chief financial officer of a medical software start-up in Austin, Texas, and a principal and senior associate with the Washington, D.C., office of Charles River Associates, where he provided business consulting and litigation support to companies in a variety of industries. He also served as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business from 1994 to 1998, where he taught courses in microeconomics, entrepreneurial finance and private equity, and environmental policy.
Dr. Marron has published articles on a broad range of topics, including tax policy, intellectual property, and energy and environmental policy.
Charles T. Maxwell
Weeden & Co., LP
Charles T. Maxwell was educated at Princeton University (Jadwin Scholar) and Oxford University (Marshall Scholar) in Middle East languages, literature and history.
He entered the oil industry in 1957 and worked for a major international oil company for 12 years in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 1968, he joined a well-known Wall Street firm as oil analyst and was ranked by Institutional Investor as No.1 in his field in 1972, 1974, 1977, and 1981-1986. In addition, for the last 17 years he has been an active member of a Oxford-based organization comprised of OPEC and other industry executives from 30 countries who meet twice a year to discuss trends within the energy industries.
Maxwell retired in 1997, and then came back to the oil and gas markets in 1999 owing to his view that important changes in these sectors were ready to unfold. He now works at Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, CT as a Senior Energy Analyst and is engaged in dealing with energy developments.
Daniel J. Meckstroth
Chief Economist
Manufacturers’ Alliance/MAPI Inc
Daniel J. Meckstroth, Ph.D., is Chief Economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. He has been with the Alliance since 1990. Dr. Meckstroth provides comments and analysis on a wide variety of economic issues as they relate to the manufacturing sector and is the primary spokesperson for the Alliance on business conditions and economic matters. Meckstroth also serves as a Council Director at the Alliance and currently is the Council Director to the E‑Business and Purchasing Councils operated by the Alliance. He is frequently quoted in the business press and writes extensively on business practices and manufacturing activity.
Meckstroth earned a Ph.D. in economics, a Master of Arts degree in economics, and a Masters of Arts degree in industrial relations, all from the University of Cincinnati. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Eastern Kentucky University.
Prior to his tenure at the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, Meckstroth worked for Armco (now AK Steel), a steel manufacturer, as senior economist for corporate economic research from 1978-85 and as supervisor for corporate strategy and development from 1985-90. He also served as a business analyst in the corporate office for Federated Department Stores in Cincinnati, OH, from 1976-78.
Meckstroth is a member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and is member and officer of the National Economists Club in Washington.
Laurence Meyer
former Fed Governor
Vice Chairman, Macroeconomic Advisers
Dr. Laurence H. Meyer is Vice Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, the company he co-founded with Joel Prakken and Chris Varvares as Laurence H. Meyer & Associates in 1982. The firm became Macroeconomic Advisers in June of 1996 when Dr. Meyer joined the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Dr. Meyer served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from June 20, 1996 until January 31, 2002 and re-joined MA in June of 2002.
During his tenure at the Board, he was widely recognized as an influential member of the Federal Open Market Committee and built a reputation for independent thinking and straight talk about monetary policy. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said, "Larry Meyer has made an important contribution to the Board’s monetary policy. His thoughtful insights into technical issues and his technical expertise have materially enhanced the deliberations of the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee. His influence will carry on beyond his tenure as a Board member." Dr. Meyer was chairman of the Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Affairs, overseeing the Board’s regulatory implementation of Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its participation in negotiations toward a new international capital accord. He also represented the Federal Reserve Board in several international forums, including the Financial Stability Forum, the Economic Policy Committee of the OECD, and APEC. He was responsible for monitoring developments in the Asia Pacific region and participated in U.S. bilateral dialogues with the central banks and finance ministries of Japan, China, and India.
Dr. Meyer is also distinguished visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Dr. Meyer, recognized as one of the nation’s leading economic forecasters, was born on in the Bronx, New York, in 1944. He received a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Yale University in 1965 and a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. He was also a professor of economics and former chairman of the economics department at Washington University.
Brian C. Moyer
Deputy Chief, National Income and Wealth Division
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Brian C. Moyer is Deputy Chief of the National Income and Wealth Division at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). In that position, he is responsible for research to improve the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts, including the estimates of Gross Domestic Product.
Prior to taking his current position in 2004, he served as the Chief of the Annual Industry Branch at BEA where he was responsible for the Annual Input-Output Accounts and the GDP-by-Industry Accounts.
He has a B.A. and a M.A. from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. from the American University, all in economics. He is a member of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth and is active in a number of economic and statistical groups.
Michael Mussa
Senior Fellow
Institute for International Economics
Michael Mussa, senior fellow since 2001, served as Economic Counselor and Director of the Department of Research at the International Monetary Fund from 1991-2001, where he was responsible for advising the Management of the Fund and the Fund's Executive Board on broad issues of economic policy and for providing analysis of ongoing developments in the world economy. By appointment of President Ronald Reagan, Mussa served as a Member of the US Council of Economic Advisers from August 1986 to September 1988. He was a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago (1976-91) and was on the faculty of the Department of Economics at the University of Rochester (1971-76). During this period he also served as a visiting faculty member at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, the London School of Economics, and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Mussa's main areas of research are international economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, and municipal finance. He has published widely in these fields in professional journals and research volumes. He is the author of Argentina and the Fund: From Triumph to Tragedy (2002).
Lloyd C. Nace
Strategic Business Analyst
American Standard
Annette L. Nazareth
Commissioner
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Annette L. Nazareth was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and sworn in on August 4, 2005.
Prior to being appointed a Commissioner, Ms. Nazareth served as the Commission's Director of the Division of Market Regulation, a position she held from March of 1999 until August of 2005. As Director, Ms. Nazareth had primary responsibility for the supervision and regulation of the U.S. securities markets, principally through the regulation of brokers and dealers, exchanges, clearing agencies, transfer agents and securities information processors. Significant initiatives adopted by the Commission during her tenure include: execution quality disclosure rules, implementation of equities decimal pricing, short sale reforms, implementation of a voluntary regime for consolidated supervision of broker-dealer holding companies and modernization of the national market system rules. She joined the Commission staff in 1998 as Senior Counsel to Chairman Arthur Levitt and served briefly as the Interim Director of the Division of Investment Management.
Since 1999, Ms. Nazareth has served as the Commission's representative on the Financial Stability Forum (FSF). The FSF promotes international financial stability through information exchange and international cooperation in financial supervision and surveillance. The FSF brings together on a regular basis national authorities responsible for financial stability in significant international financial centers.
Prior to joining the Commission staff, Ms. Nazareth held several positions in the financial services industry. As a Managing Director of Smith Barney from 1997 to 1998, she was deputy head of the capital markets legal group. As a Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel of Lehman Brothers, Ms. Nazareth was the chief legal advisor to the fixed income division from 1994 to 1997. From 1986 to 1994, she served as Managing Director and General Counsel of Mabon Securities Corp. and its predecessor business, Mabon, Nugent & Co. She began her career as an associate with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in 1981, where she worked with commercial banks, investment banks and corporations on mergers and acquisitions, syndicated loans and public and private securities offerings.
Ms. Nazareth was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and her A.B., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University.
Ms. Nazareth is married to Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. and they have two children.
Yorgos Papatheodorou
Director, Strategic Analysis
CH2M HILL
Yorgos Papatheodorou is Director, Strategic Analysis, CH2m Hill. He has a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Sussex (U.K.), and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of British Columbia (Canada), where his research topic was on energy and the macroeconomy. He is currently serving on the NABE Board of Directors and as chair of the Manufacturing Roundtable.
Stephen Parente
Assistant Professor, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
Principal, Health Systems Innovation Network, LLC
Stephen Parente is Assistant Professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and is Principal, Health Systems Innovation Network, LLC.
His research specialties are: Health economics; Health insurance; Health information technology; and Medical Technology Evaluation. His current research includes: Evaluation of Consumer Driven Health Plans including the trade-offs between health and wealth portfolio choices; Microsimulation of health savings account market development under different incentive scenarios; Economics analysis of the long-term effectiveness of AHCPR/AHRQ guidelines using welfare-loss/small area variations methodology with 1991-1998 claims data; Measuring the impact of new Medicare health insurance financing designs including Part D.
His major publications include: Feldman, R., Parente, S.T., Abraham, J., Christianson, J., Taylor, R. "Health Savings Accounts: Early Estimates of National Take-up from the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act and Future Policy Proposals." Health Affair, November 10, 2005; Parente, S.T., Evans W., Schoenman, S., Finch, M. "Changes in Health Care Use and Expenditures of Medicare HMO Disenrollees Who Return to Fee-for-Service Medicare: Results from a Natural Experiment." Health Care Financing Review, Spring 2005; 26(3):5-30; Schoenman, J., Parente, S.T., Evans W, Finch, M., Shah, M. "The Impact of Medicare HMO Closures on Beneficiaries." Health Care Financing Review, Spring 2005; 26(3):31-43.
He has: BA, 1987, Health & Society, Univ. of Rochester-New York; MS, 1988, Public Policy Analysis, Univ. of Rochester-New York; MPH, 1989, Health Economics, Univ. of Rochester-New York; PhD, 1995, Health Finance and Organization, Johns Hopkins Univ.
James Poterba
Mitsui Professor of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
James Poterba is the Mitsui Professor of Economics and the Associate Head of the Economics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has taught since 1982. He is also the Director of the Public Economics Research Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. He has served as a Director of the American Finance Association and as a member of the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association. Dr. Poterba's research focuses on how taxation affects the economic decisions of households and firms. His recent work has emphasized the effect of taxation on the financial behavior of households, particularly their saving and portfolio decisions. He has been especially interested in the analysis of tax-deferred retirement saving programs such as 401(k) plans and in the role of annuities in financing retirement consumption. Dr. Poterba is currently serving as a member of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. He is a former member of the MIT 401(k) Plan Oversight Committee. Dr. Poterba edits the Journal of Public Economics, the leading international journal for research on taxation and government spending. He is a member of the advisory boards of the Journal of Wealth Management and the Investment Management Consultant's Association Journal. He is a co-author of The Role of Annuity Markets in Financing Retirement (2001), and an editor or co-editor of Global Warming: Economic Policy Responses (1991), International Comparisons of Household Saving (1994), Empirical Foundations of Household Taxation (1996), and Fiscal Institutions and Fiscal Performance (1999). Dr. Poterba studied Economics as an undergraduate at Harvard, and received the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has been an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, a Batterymarch Fellow, a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Raghuram G. Rajan
Economic Counselor/Director of Research
International Monetary Fund
Raghuram G. Rajan is the Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to holding this post, Rajan taught at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago where he is the Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance. His research is broadly on the role of institutions, especially financial institutions, in fostering economic development. In 2003, Rajan was awarded the inaugural Fischer Black Prize by the American Finance Association for contributions to finance by an economist under 40. Rajan is an electrical engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. He earned his M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and his Ph.D. from MIT.
Ronald C. Ritter
Expert Principal
McKinsey & Co
Louis F. Rossiter
Professor and Director, Schroeder Center for Healthcare Policy,
William and Mary College
Louis F. Rossiter is Director of Research at The Center for Excellence in Aging and Geriatric Health and senior research fellow for the Center for Public Policy Research at the College of William and Mary.
For 18 years, Dr. Rossiter taught health economics in graduate programs at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the founding director of the David G. Williamson, Jr. Institute for Health Studies at VCU, has previously served as Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources and during the Bush administration served as policy deputy for the administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration.
Dr. Rossiter has published more than 50 articles, edited 14 books and serves on the boards of four Virginia health care companies and published a 2001 book, Medicare Managed Care, which concerns changes that will allow beneficiaries to choose private health care plans.
He has served on a large number of federal and state technical advisory panels; as consultant to a variety of prestigious non-profit and for profit corporations, including Merck and Co. and Kaiser Permanente Health Plans.
Dr. Rossiter received his B.A. from Lenoir-Rhyne College, his M.A. in economics from the University of South Carolina, Columbia and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Isabel Sawhill
Senior Fellow
Brookings Institution
Isabel V. Sawhill is a Senior Fellow and Vice President & Director of Economic Studies at The Brookings Institution. Prior to joining Brookings, Dr. Sawhill was a Senior Fellow at The Urban Institute. She also served as an Associate Director at the Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to 1995, where her responsibilities included all of the human resource programs of the federal government, accounting for one third of the federal budget. In addition, she has authored or edited numerous books and articles including Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting the Long-Run Challenge and Restoring Fiscal Sanity: How to Balance the Budget, both with Alice Rivlin; One Percent for the Kids: New Policies, Brighter Futures for America’s Children; Welfare Reform and Beyond: The Future of the Safety Net; Updating America’s Social Contract: Economic Growth and Opportunity in the New Century; Getting Ahead: Economic and Social Mobility in America; and Challenge to Leadership: Economic and Social Issues for the Next Decade. Her research has spanned a wide array of economic and social issues, including fiscal policy, economic growth, poverty and inequality, welfare reform, the well-being children, and changes in the family.
Dr. Sawhill helped to found, and now serves as President of the board of, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a nonprofit organization devoted to reducing teen pregnancy in the United States. She has been a Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law School, Director of the National Commission for Employment Policy, and President of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. She also serves on a number of boards. She attended Wellesley College and received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1968.
Richard Scheffler
Distinguished Professor of Health and Public Policy
University of California at Berkeley
Richard Scheffler is Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley and holds the Chair in Healthcare Markets & Consumer Welfare endowed by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of California. He is Director of The Nicholas C. Petris Center On Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare. At Berkeley, he serves as Co-Director of the Scholars in Health Policy Research Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; he is founding Co-Director of the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) pre- and post-doctoral training programs. Co-directs the NIH-Fogarty Mental Health & Policy Research Training for Czech Post Doctoral Scholars program; the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) pre and postdoctoral training program; and the Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship Program. He served as President and Program Chair of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA) 4th World Congress San Francisco, June 2003. His research is on healthcare markets, health insurance, the health work force, mental health economics, and international health system reforms in Western and Eastern Europe. Professor Scheffler is the current recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Carl Taube Award, which honors distinguished contributions to the field of mental health services research. He is a recipient of a senior scientist award from NIMH for work on mental health parity, the economics of the public mental health system in California, managed care in mental health, and the mental health work force. Professor Scheffler has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Rockefeller Scholar and a Scholar in Residence at the Institute of Medicine–National Academy of Sciences. Professor Scheffler has published over a hundred papers and edited and written six books. His forthcoming book is on the future of the health work force –University of California Press.
Keith Schwer
Director, Center for Business and Economic Research
University of Nevada Las Vegas
R. Keith Schwer is director of The Center for Business and Economic Research and a member of the UNLV Economics Department faculty. Specializing in economic impact analysis, econometric modeling, feasibility analysis, and survey research, Dr. Schwer is recognized as an authority on the business and economic environment of Las Vegas, the state of Nevada, and the region. He manages the annual Las Vegas Perspective survey, serves on numerous state and local advisory boards, and acts as a resource person for televison, radio, and print media. Professor Schwer has more than 25 years of experience in business and economics research in major university programs in Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wyoming. He authors many reports and conducts both basic and applied research. Some of his recent academic research has appeared in the Annals of Regional Science, Journal of Applied Economics, the Review of Regional Studies, the Journal of Gambling Studies, the Journal of Insurance Issues, Review of Black Political Economy, Environment and Planning A, Journal of Cultural Economics, Environment and Behavior, Journal of Travel Research, International RegionalScience Review, Journal of Media Economics, and the Journal of Applied Business Research. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Western Economics Association, the Western Regional Science Association, and the Southern Nevada Area Population Projections and Estimation Committee. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Maryland, and has two decades of teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Matthew Slaughter
Member
Council of Economic Advisers
Matthew J. Slaughter is an associate professor of business administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He is also currently a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a visiting fellow at the Institute for International Economics. His current research focuses on the economics and politics of globalization, work that has been widely published in academic journals and widely featured in business media.
In recent years he has served as a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations; as a visiting scholar and consultant at the Federal Reserve, the Department of Labor, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank; and as a consultant both to individual multinational firms and also to several industry organizations that support dialogue on issues of international trade, investment, and taxation. He received a BA from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.
Professor Slaughter is officially on leave from the Tuck School of Business while he serves on the Council of Economic Advisers.
On September 22, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Professor Slaughter to become a member of the Council of Economic Advisers. Located within the Executive Office of the President, the CEA was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to provide the President with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues. The CEA includes three members who are appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. On October 25, 2005, Professor Slaughter testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; and on November 4, 2005, the full Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination. He was sworn in as a CEA member on November 18, 2005.
Dean Smith
Professor of Health Management and Policy
University of Michigan, School of Public Health
DEAN G. SMITH, PH.D. is a Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy and Senior Associate Dean for Administration at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is committed to a line of teaching and research that helps to provide a better understanding of the financial aspects of working with and working in health care delivery and financing organizations. His specific areas of interest are: financial management, managed care and pharmacoeconomic analysis. His work has been disseminated through more than 200 presentations and publications. Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan, Professor Smith was with a management consulting firm where he was responsible for forecasting and modeling of the healthcare sector. On sabbaticals from the University he was a Faculty Fellow with Lincoln National Life, a Resident Consultant with Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research and a Visiting Scholar at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. He also holds the titles of visiting professor at the University of Colorado, Executive MBA and adjunct professor at the University of Alabama–Birmingham, Executive Masters in Health Services Administration. He is chair-elect of the board of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, and a board member of the Network for Healthcare Management and Molina Healthcare of Michigan (a Medicaid-only HMO), having previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Good Health Michigan. Professor Smith's degrees are in economics from The University of Michigan and Texas A&M University.
Recent publications include:
DG Smith, JRC Wheeler and J Wynne. Capital Budgeting Practices in Hospitals. International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, Winter 2006.
TB Gibson, CG McLaughlin and DG Smith. The Long-Term and Short-Term Effects of a Copayment Increase on the Utilization and Expenditures of Prescription Drugs. Inquiry, Fall 2005.
DG Smith, A Cerulli and F Frech. Use of Valsartan for the Treatment of Heart Failure Patients Not Receiving ACE Inhibitors: A Budget Impact Analysis. Clinical Therapeutics, June 2005.
PSJ Miller, DG Smith and P Jones. Cost-Effectiveness of Rosuvastatin in Treating Patients to LDL-Cholesterol Goals compared with Atorvastatin, Pravastatin and Simvastatin: A US Analysis of the STELLAR Trial. American Journal of Cardiology, June 2005.
DG Smith, V Barghout and KH Kahler. Tegaserod Treatment for IBS: A Model of Indirect Costs. American Journal of Managed Care, April 2005.
DG Smith. The Health Economics of Hypertension. Managed Care Magazine, July 2004.
KE Warner, D Mendez and DG Smith. The Financial Implications of Coverage of Smoking Cessation Treatment in Managed Care Organizations. Inquiry, Spring 2004.
DG Smith, AB Nguyen, CN Peak and FH Frech. Markov Modeling Analysis of Health and Economic Outcomes of Therapy with Valsartan vs. Amlodipine in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Microalbuminuria. Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy, Jan/Feb 2004.
PH Parkerton, DG Smith and HL Straley. Primary Care Practice Coordination Versus Physician Continuity. Family Medicine, January 2004.
C. Eugene Steuerle
Senior Fellow
The Urban Institute
Eugene Steuerle is a senior fellow at The Urban Institute, codirector of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, columnist for Tax Notes, and the author or editor of 11 books, more than 150 reports and articles, more than 50 Congressional testimonies or reports, and more than 600 columns. His latest book is Contemporary Tax Policy. He serves on the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics and on advisory panels or boards for the Congressional Budget Office, the General Accounting Office, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Actuarial Foundation, and the Independent Sector.
Previous positions include president of the National Tax Association (2001-2002), chair of the 1999 Technical Panel advising Social Security on its methods and assumptions, president of the National Economists Club Educational Foundation, deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax analysis (1987-1989), and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Between 1984 and 1986, he served as economic coordinator and original organizer of the Treasury's tax reform effort, for which Treasury and White House officials have written that tax reform "would not have moved forward without your early leadership."
Dr. Steuerle's other books include: Social Security and the Family (coedited with Melissa Favreault and Frank Sammartino) and Nonprofits and Government (coedited with Elizabeth Boris). His columns have appeared mainly in three series: "Straight Talk on Social Security and Retirement Policy" for the Urban Institute, "Economic Perspective" for Tax Notes, and an "After Tax" column for the Financial Times.
Dr. Steuerle also has undertaken various missions for International Monetary Fund to China, Singapore, and Slovakia, while the government of Barbados undertook a tax reform effort modeled after a report that he coauthored as head of another mission.
William Strauss
Senior Economist/Economic Advisor
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
William A. Strauss is a senior economist and economic advisor in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which he joined in 1982. His chief responsibilities include analyzing the current performance of both the Midwest economy and the manufacturing sector for use in monetary policy. He also produces the monthly Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index, organizes the Bank's Economic Outlook Symposium and its Auto Outlook Symposium. He also conducts several economic workshops and industrial roundtables throughout the year. He has taught economics and statistics as an adjunct faculty member both for Loyola University, Chicago and Webster University, Chicago. He currently teaches at the University of Chicago, Graham School of General Studies. His research paper topics include analysis of the manufacturing sector, the auto sector, the Midwest regional economy, the trade-weighted dollar, business cycles, and Federal Reserve payments operations. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Business Week, Investor's Daily, The Economist and many other publications from around the country. Mr. Strauss has also been interviewed on numerous television and radio shows. He is a past president of the Chicago Association of Business Economists and currently serves as a member of the Advisory Council for the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Economic Education. Mr. Strauss earned a BA in economics and geography from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and an MA in economics from Northwestern University.
Hans Tammemagi Ph.D.
Canadian Centre for Energy Information
Hans Tammemagi is a writer and environmental consultant located in Pender Island, British Combia. His nuclear interest began when studying the radioactivity of Cornish granites while a research fellow at Imperial College, UK. In 1975 he joined AECL to work on the high-level waste disposal program. He is a member of the Canadian Nuclear Society and served for many years as Chair of the Canadian Nuclear Association's Safety and Environment Committee.
Hans joined the consulting business in 1981 and from 1994 to 2004 operated his own company, Oakhill Environmental in St. Catharines, Ontario. He was an Adjunct Professor at Brock University from 1994 to 2003 where he occasionally lectured in the environmental sciences. He also owned and managed a publishing firm, Oakhill Publishing House. In 2005 he moved to Pender Island to pursue writing on a full-time basis.
Hans is the award-winning author of six books specializing in the environment, science and travel. He had an environmental column in the Downtowner, Niagara’s largest circulation magazine, a monthly travel page in the three Niagara newspapers, and writes regular newspaper and magazine articles. His books include:
- Winning Proposals: How to write them and get results, Self-Counsel Press, 1995. This was a national best-seller.
- Landfills, Incinerators and the Waste Crisis: The search for a sustainable future, 2000. This won the 2000 Niagara Book Prize.
- Exploring Niagara: The complete guide to Niagara Falls and vicinity, Oakhill Publishing House, 1997.
- Unlocking the Atom: The Canadian book on nuclear technology, with David Jackson, McMaster University Press, 2002.
- Exploring the Hill: A guide to Canada’s parliament past and present, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2002.
- Compelling Communication: Developing the tools for successful and persuasive communication. This was used at Niagara College to teach a communication course, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2005.
A seventh book on air pollution is in press.
Carl R. Tannenbaum
Chief Economist
LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO N.A
Mr. Tannenbaum is the Chief Economist for LaSalle Bank Corporation, a $100 billion organization centered in Chicago. LaSalle is an affiliate of the ABN AMRO Bank of Holland, one of the world’s largest financial institutions.
In this capacity, Carl provides internal and external briefings on business conditions. He publishes weekly, monthly, and quarterly commentary for distribution to the bank's customers. He serves as a quote contact for a number of publications and provides commentary on business issues for CNBC, CNN, and other media outlets.
Mr. Tannenbaum is a member of the Blue Chip panel of economic forecasters and is Vice President of the National Association for Business Economics. In addition to his economic duties, Carl is also responsible for measuring the organization’s interest rate risk and monitoring its investment portfolio.
Mr. Tannenbaum has been with the organization for twenty-two years. He holds an M.B.A. and a B.A. in finance and economics from the University of Chicago.
Eric Thompson
Director, Bureau of Business Research
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dr. Eric C. Thompson is the Director of the Bureau of Business Research and an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Thompson’s research on the Nebraska and national economy examines competitive factors affecting state and local economic growth, the impact of highways and other infrastructure on the economy, and economic development. His research has appeared in the Journal of Regional Science, Regional Science and Economics, the Journal of Cultural Economics, and the Economic Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Dr. Thompson served as the Co-Editor of the journal Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy in 2003 and 2004.
Gregory R. Valliere
Chief Strategist
Stanford Washington Research Group
Gregory R. Valliere is a Senior Vice President and co-founder of the Washington Research Group, which has provided political, economic and industry research for institutional investors for more than thirty years.
Mr. Valliere coordinates WRG’s political and economic research, focusing on how Congress and the White House shape fiscal policies. He is also responsible for coverage of the Federal Reserve Board’s interest rate policies.
Mr. Valliere has been covering economic and political developments in Washington for institutional investors for the past 30 years, first at The Washington Forum, the predecessor of the Washington Research Group. A co-founder of the group, Mr. Valliere joined The Washington Forum in 1974 and became chief political analyst, and editor of The Washington Forum’s publications. In 1980, Mr. Valliere was named Research Director. Currently he is WRG’s chief strategist.
He began his career in 1972 at “F-D-C” Reports, a trade publication that monitors the pharmaceutical industry, where he became Chief Congressional Correspondent and later News Editor. While in college, he was an intern at The Washington Post.
He is a regular guest on Cable News Network’s “Ahead of the Curve” and frequently appears on CNN’s “Moneyline,” CNBC’s “Market Wrap,” Fox TV’s “Your World With Neil Cavuto,” the “Nightly Business Report,” which appears on most PBS stations, and Reuters Financial Television.
Mr. Valliere earned a degree in Journalism in 1973 from The George Washington University, where for several years he taught a course in newsletter writing.
Chris P. Varvares
President
Macroeconomic Advisers
Chris Varvares is President of Macroeconomic Advisers, a company he co-founded with Joel Prakken and Laurence Meyer as Laurence H. Meyer & Associates in 1982. The firm became Macroeconomic Advisers in June of 1996 when Dr. Meyer joined the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Mr. Varvares has over 20 years of experience in macroeconomic forecasting and policy analysis, both as a principal of Macroeconomic Advisers (1982 to present) and as a member of the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (1981-1982). While at the Council, he served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the OECD in April 1982. Mr. Varvares is a member and former President of the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association of Business Economists and is a member of the American Economic Association. He serves as a member of Time Magazine's Board of Economists, and has been a panelist for the World Economic Forum.
Mr. Varvares holds a B.A. in Economics from the George Washington University and received his graduate training in economics from Washington University in St. Louis.
Richard L. Wobbekind
Associate Dean
Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado,
Dr. Richard L. Wobbekind is Director of the Business Research Division and Associate Dean for External Relations at the University of Colorado at Boulder .
As Director of the Business Research Division his responsibilities include developing an annual consensus forecast of the Colorado economy and performing various economic impact assessments of the Colorado economy. Currently he is involved in several market research and strategic planning projects with public and private entities throughout Colorado . Richard also produces a quarterly economic indicator series for Boulder County. He participates annually in the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Regional Economic Roundtable and is a contributor to the Western BlueChip forecast newsletter.
Richard teaches senior undergraduate and M.B.A. students in macroeconomics, public policy, and managerial economics. He has received three awards for teaching excellence from the students of the Leeds School and was awarded the 1997 University of Colorado Bank One Community Outreach Award.
Richard has lived in Colorado for 25 years and has spent much of his time studying the development of the Colorado and regional economies. He received a B.A. in economics from Bucknell University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Douglas Woodward
Director, Division of Research
University of South Carolina
Dr. Douglas P. Woodward is the Director of Division of Research and Professor of Economics at The Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Texas in 1986. Dr. Woodward's primary research interests are industry location, economic development, and foreign direct investment.
He has published articles on these and other topics in economics and regional science journals. Dr. Woodward is co-author of a book on foreign direct investment in the United States, The New Competitors, ranked as one of the “top ten business and economics books” by Business Week and listed by Fortune as one of the books “CEOs are reading.” Recent articles include academic papers on industry location in the Journal of Urban Economics, The Journal of Regional Science and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Sponsored research includes economic impact analyses of BMW and Coca-Cola in the United States, China, Morocco, South Africa, Kenya, and elsewhere. Among other projects at the state and national level, Dr. Woodward is currently engaged in extensive research on economic and business development in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also serving as research director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Travel and Tourism Industry Center. Over his career, Dr. Woodward has received numerous grants and awards. He has testified before local, state, and national government committees and has presented his research at many conferences around the world, including the prestigious World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Dr. Woodward has been quoted frequently in the national press and has often appeared on television and radio programs discussing economic development and related topics.
Education: Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 1986; M.A., New York University, 1981; B.A., State University of New York, Purchase, 1978
David A. Wyss
Chief Economist
Standard & Poor’s, presiding
David A. Wyss is chief economist at Standard & Poor’s, based in New York. In this position, he is responsible for S&P’s economic forecasts and publications, and co-authors the monthly Equity Insight and the weekly Financial Notes. David joined Data Resources, Inc. in 1979 as an economist in the European Economic Service in London, which was acquired by McGraw-Hill. He came back to the United States in 1983 as Chief Financial Economist for DRI/McGraw-Hill, became chief economist for Standard & Poor’s DRI in 1992, and chief economist for Standard & Poor’s in 1999. Before joining DRI, Dr. Wyss was a Senior Staff Economist with the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board, and Economic Advisor to the Bank of England.
David holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He is on the board of the National Association for Business Economics. David testifies regularly before Congress, is quoted regularly in the press, and has appeared on many major television programs. He has written many articles for popular and professional publications.
Janet L. Yellen
President & CEO
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Janet L. Yellen took office as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on June 14, 2004. In 2006, she serves as a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the nation's monetary policymaking body, bringing her District's perspective to policy discussions in Washington.
Prior to joining the Bank, Dr. Yellen was the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business and Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, where she has been a faculty member since 1980. Dr. Yellen is currently on leave from these positions.
Dr. Yellen earlier took leave from Berkeley for five years starting August 1994 when she served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System through February 1997, and then left the Fed to become Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers through August 1999. She also chaired the Economic Policy Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from 1997 to 1999.
Dr. Yellen is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Fellow of the Yale Corporation, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also serves on the board of directors of the Pacific Council on International Policy, and in the recent past, she served as president of the Western Economic Association, and vice president of the American Economic Association.
Among her numerous professional affiliations and honors, she served on the Advisory Board of the Center for International Political Economy and the Jerome Levy Economics Institute. She also served as a senior adviser to Macroeconomic Advisers, a St. Louis-based firm specializing in macroeconomic forecasting and analysis. She was also a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Economic Advisers.
Dr. Yellen graduated summa cum laude from Brown University with a degree in economics in 1967, and received her PhD in Economics from Yale University in 1971. She received the Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale in 1997, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brown in 1998, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Bard College in 2000.
An Assistant Professor at Harvard University from 1971 to 1976, Dr. Yellen served as an economist with the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 1977 and 1978, and on the faculty of the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1978 to 1980.
Dr. Yellen has written on a wide variety of macroeconomic issues, while specializing in the causes, mechanisms and implications of unemployment.